Why do you play? Motivations assessment

It rates you against 3200 other players, so it’s statistically valid, and measures you on three dimensions of why you game: achievement, socialisation and immersion. Each of these are driven by sub-factors, so within achievement are: mechanics, advancement and competition.

As you’d imagine, I scored highly on mechanics because truly I love analysis and theory and how this game works. I think this is self-profile worth doing, not just for interest but because I do think it’s valuable to understand yourself both in-game and out.

It’s nice to be honest with yourself too. My escapism rating is pretty extreme relative to the sample of other gamers.

Some details about the measurements, and my scores. Interestingly, I had no pwnwear category really to file this post in, but I do have several I could have used on mechanics.

Escapism: Gamers who score high on Escapism use the environment as a place to relax or relieve their stress from the real world. These players may use the game as a way to avoid thinking about their RL problems or in general as a way to escape RL. Your percentile rank is 97% on this subcomponent.

Mechanics: Gamers who score high on Mechanics derive satisfaction from analyzing and

understanding the underlying numerical mechanics of the system. For example, they may be interested in calculating the precise damage difference between dual-wielding one-handed swords vs. using a two-handed sword, or figuring out the resolution order of dodges, misses, and evasions. Their goal in understanding the underlying system is typically to facilitate templating or optimizing a character that excels in a particular domain. Your percentile rank is 96% on this subcomponent.

Want more?

If you liked that and want another personality test, here’s the Bartle gamer psychology profile.

2 comments to Why do you play? Motivations assessment

Thanks, Gravity. I used to follow Nick Yee’s stuff back in the days I played EQ, but I hadn’t seen this assessment. His stuff is always interesting. I tried the Bartle version too, but it was rather PVP-oriented (and I’m not). I did enjoy the Bot’s little comments as I answered the questions, though. Answer was accurate enough: Achiever-Explorer (AESK).